Michael Elgin & Ren Narita vs. Jay White & YOH
I love these Jay White non-tournament matches and the whole story of his dysfunctional tag-team with YOH. Jay beating the shit out of Narita and YOH getting offended by the god damn violence of it all was some great story-telling and I can’t wait to see if this actually leads to anything substantial. Elgin/White also seemed like a fun pairing and I quite enjoyed Jay mumbling ‘’they’re not working!’’ while Elgin was no-selling his chops. FUN! **3/4
YOSHI-HASHI & SHO vs. Minoru Suzuki & El Desperado
This was the usual Minoru Suzuki house show tag on speed with the violence turned to 12 (it is usually at 11) and it absolutely kicked my ass. The crowd brawling was intense as hell – Kevin Kelly and Rocky Romero were literally cowering in fear on commentary. I swear Minoru clocked SHO with the stiffest/loudest forearm of all time at some point. The viciousness of this man, just laying into that helpless sap YOSHI-HASHI and then straight-up Gotch-style Piledriving SHO without meeting any resistance for the finish. Wow. ***
Togi Makabe & Toa Henare vs. EVIL & BUSHI
These guys almost managed to keep the frenetic pace and energy of the last few matches despite having Makabe and BUSHI in there, so there’s clearly something going on with the roster on this show. Crowd was super into everyone, Henare unleashed the Karate chop of death and EVIL eventually put him out of his misery with the Banshee Muzzle. **1/2
Hiroshi Tanahashi & David Finlay vs. Bad Luck Fale & Tanga Loa
About as watchable as it gets for a midcard tag featuring David Finlay and Bad Luck Fale. The opening spot with Finlay tagging right back out after running into a brick wall, Tana going after Fale’s leg, Loa popping the crowd with a vicious BODY SLAM on Tana – these were all things that I liked in this professional wrestling match. PS – Finlay added some detail to his new rock n’ roller pants. Feel like he might be on to something. Maybe. **1/2
Kazuchika Okada & Gedo vs. Hangman Page & Chase Owens
I’m all about Gedo talking shit to the Bullet Club guys in English (‘’YOU CAN’T SEE ME’’ after poking Chase in the eye), but the Hangman/Okada stuff wasn’t lighting the world on fire and even felt a little tentative here and there. On a more positive note, the red dye is starting to wash out of Okada’s hair and Lil Kazu is starting to look like his normal self again. **1/4
SANADA vs. Tama Tonga – G1 Climax (Block B)
On one hand, this was once again buried in Bullet Club wackiness. On the other, the actual work between SANADA and Tama was a lot livelier than Tama’s previous match with Juice. There was an explosiveness to everything they did that I appreciated a lot. Or at least there was whenever Tanga Loa wasn’t fucking around at ring-side. They found a refreshing way to set up SANADA’s rad-as-hell pescado and the Japanese legroll clutch finish with SANADA actually winning was pretty cool. But yeah, I am praying to the wrestling gods that Tama doesn’t get the win against Kenny on Saturday, as this would surely put him in contention for a serious push and that is not something I can handle. **3/4
Toru Yano vs. Zack Sabre Jr – G1 Climax (Block B)
The TORU YANO PRO-WRESTLING REVIVAL TOUR continues with this wild freaking match against ZSJ. My god, this was so much fun. I just realized I didn’t mention the actual back story to this thing in my review of Yano/Ishii, but basically Yano went on the record saying he would be working the whole G1 in fairplay-mode. Which is a hilarious concept. So this followed the same pattern as the Ishii match: Yano trying to keep his word but eventually reverting back to his old tricks to provide some sort of equalizer for himself.
The drama was off the charts in this one though, as Zack went hard on Yano with the submissions and kept countering all of his attempts at ‘’fair wrestling’’. As if torturing him in the ring wasn’t enough, Zack tried to beat Yano at his own game for a bit and have him get counted out, which resulted in TWO amazing near countouts that had all of Korakuen Hall on the edge of their seat. Mind blowing finish with Zack countering Yano’s cheap shot attempt left and right and both guys trading flash roll ups to nuclear heat. TORU YANO: G1 CLIMAX MVP! ***1/2
Juice Robinson vs. Kota Ibushi – G1 Climax (Block B)
What a fucking blast this match was. They put together a perfectly-worked babyface vs. babyface match that started with a polite handshake and gradually escalated into an epic, high-stakes affair. Both of these guys have flawless execution so this might not be a big surprise to anyone, but everything in this match looked great. Everything from the more basic strikes, to the timing of the reversals and then the completely wild shit like Ibushi pulling off a NO-HANDS FRANKENSTEINER OFF THE APRON and making it look like the easiest thing in the world.
I was genuinely shocked at how good Juice was at controlling most of the action here, cutting off Ibushi with absurdly-loud chops and then just towering over him like a god damn wrestling veteran. This guy, what an absolute pro he’s become. Meanwhile, Ibushi’s been using a cross-arm German suplex lately to set up the Kamigoye, so this led to some really fun counter sequences between the aforementioned suplex and Juice’s Pulp Friction. A true battle for double-armed domination.
Ibushi’s wrestling like a guy with something to prove and considering how stacked this block is, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him walk out of the tournament as the clear MVP. Great stuff! ****
Tetsuya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii – G1 Climax (Block B)
Naito and Ishii is one of the few pairings in modern New Japan that blends the high-end, Meltzer-baiting workrate and 2.999 near-falls with a very palpable sense of pure hatred between both guys. So yes, this match had some jaw-dropping spots like Naito countering a Brainbuster straight into a Destino but there were also moments like Ishii snapping at Naito for his spitting in his face by repeatedly chopping him in the fucking throat. And look, I love a perfectly executed Kenny/Okada wrestling match as much as the next guy, but New Japan needs more of this kind of old-school violence and hatred.
Tetsuya Naito being a king-sized dick to Ishii and Stone Pitbull returning the favor by nearly knocking him out with a forearm right to the face: I am here for this. Considering the level of brutality that was on display here, I thought Naito’s entire sell-job was tremendous. His facial expressions told the whole story at any given time. First trying to smirk through Ishii’s onslaughts like a snotty little prick, then gradually putting over the accumulated damage and eventually just staring into the oblivion with dead eyes.
In a sense, these Naito/Ishii matches are everything I had hoped Naito/Suzuki would be: Naito testing the limits of his dickishness against a wrestler that could very well murder him. Loved it. ****
Kenny Omega vs. Hirooki Goto – G1 Climax (Block B)
This had the tough task of following the last match and aside from a few issues, they mostly pulled it off. This was a Kenny Omega match all the way through. Lots of big ideas – some of them landing better than others. Goto countering the springboard plancha by throwing a chair at Kenny was a brilliant spot in theory, but the chair barely connecting made it look very weird. Meanwhile, that brutal body slam and Moonsault into the crowd had the whole place marking out. If we take the big spots out of the conversation, the main issue I had with the match was that the mid-section was boring as hell. Kenny just aimlessly pounding on Goto and working chinlock spots isn’t my idea of a good time.
That being said, everything that came after that was just tremendous. The entire top-turnbuckle struggle that led to Goto’s PRAYING AVALANCHE YOSHI-TONIC had me on the edge of my seat: Kenny and Goto just beating the shit out each other to maintain position. Some goofy facials aside, Kenny did a good job putting over Goto repeatedly crushing him with all of his signature moves (holy shit at that Shouten Kai) and made it look like he won the match by the seat of his pants. Huge near-falls with a 50/50 Korakuen crowd adding massively to the atmosphere. Only thing missing was an interesting mid-section. ***3/4
